The Perks of Being a Babysitter
by LaPaige
Summary: Caitlyn certainly didn't expect anything that good to come out of babysitting her younger cousin - but then again, she didn't expect Nate to turn up either.


**Hey again! I know I said I would put up a JasonElla soon, and I will (it's in the making!) but I couldn't resist writing another Naitlyn. It's my obsession. Sorry if you guys don't like this as much as my Loe's, but I try! Hope you enjoy!**

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"You are going to look beautiful, Cait!"

I winced, wishing I could look in a mirror. I was babysitting my seven year old cousin, Oliver, and somehow I'd agreed to let him near my hair with hair bands and hairspray. I have no idea how this had happened – maybe he'd hypnotised me, or had somehow become the youngest qualified hairdresser in the world. I hoped it was the latter, though I very much doubted it as right now he was using a very scary amount of hairspray on my hair.

"Oliver, I think that's enough hairspray, don't you?" I asked, annoyed at myself for how timid my voice sounded. Why was I always such a pushover when it came to little kids?

"No. Your hair needs to be perfect, and that means I have to use a lot more hairspray then this!"

I would have been offended if anyone but Oliver had said that, but I knew he didn't mean it in a horrible way, so I let it slide. That and the fact that if I said something he'd probably torture me by backcombing my hair, if he hadn't already. At least he didn't have scissors. That was the only good thing I could think of right now.

"And now I just have to go and find the scissors." Oliver informed me.  
Oh crap. Could he read minds now too?  
"No, Oliver. No. Not scissors. That's bad." I jumped up, wincing as my hair flopped sideways. What had he done?  
"I was joking!"  
You know the worst part? I don't think he was.

"You know what? Why don't we-" I was about to ask him to sit down and watch a movie or something when the doorbell rang.

My first reaction was to crawl under a rock and stay there. My second was to have a panic attack because my hair was a mess and whoever was at the door was probably going to laugh their head off at me. The third was to wonder who the hell was at the door. I hadn't invited anyone over, and our parents couldn't be back from dinner so early. One glance at Oliver told me he had no idea who it was either. I was seriously debating leaving them standing outside until they went away, but when they started knocking on the door I took Oliver's hand and headed towards the front door.

I couldn't be a burglar. Didn't burglar's just smash the door and ran in? And if it was some sort of murderer wouldn't they do the same? Okay, this wasn't the best way to calm myself down. I took a deep breath, telling myself to stay calm, if not for myself then for Oliver. Oliver didn't seem to be panicking though – he was still laughing at my hair.

Mental note: Never let anyone under fourteen do anything to you hair. Ever.

By the time I reached the front door I was panicking way more then my younger cousin. Remember when you were little and your parents told you never to answer the door to anyone, then someone rings the doorbell and you don't know if you should see who it is or not? It was exactly like that.

Apparently life hated me at that moment, because as soon as I saw who was at the door my heart stopped. But not from fright. Because it wasn't a murderer, burglar or anything like that. It was my crush. And I really would have preferred it to be a robber or something, because Nate seeing my with my hair crazy like this was not something I wanted. At all.

"Urgh." I mumbled, seeing him burst into laugher on the other side of the door.  
Oliver found this hilarious.

"Look, Caity! It's the guy you want to marry!" He squealed. I froze, glaring at the little boy pointing at Nate. I didn't know how he knew I liked Nate (probably my mom or something), but whoever it was better run.

"Oliver, don't say anything, okay. I'll ask Nate to go away."  
"No! I want to talk to him!" Oliver replied.  
Unfortunately for him I was no longer a pushover. Far from it.

"Oliver, go sit in there." I said, pointing behind me into the other room. Oliver took one look at my face and bounded off, leaving me with a very amused Nate.  
I opened the door, a scowl on my face.  
"Nice hair, Caity."  
"Oh shut it." I growled, clenching my fist. I knew I would never hit him, but if felt good for all my anger to transfer to my fist. It probably wouldn't hurt him, but I could still imagine, right?

"I'm guessing that boy did it? Either that or he blindfolded you." Nate said between his laughs.  
"I'm going to shut the door on you!" I warned. I was, too. I slammed it as hard as I could, but Nate jammed his foot in between the door and the wall, so it stopped abruptly. I cursed.

"CAITY SAID A NAUGHTY WORD!" I heard Oliver yell from the living room. I scowled while Nate laughed. Apparently my door slamming didn't hurt him at all. Shame.  
"Aw, let me in. I can help babysitting your … friend." Nate said, having no idea who Oliver was.  
"His name is Oliver, he messed my hair up and he's my little cousin." I explained, before adding "and if you are going to laugh I can tell you to get lost!"  
Nate pulled a face, stepping inside. "I won't laugh." He promised. "Much."

I glared at him, but knew I couldn't kick him out. I wouldn't be able to – unfortunately for me my heart was having a fit just at the mere sight of him. And apparently my hair had been shocked too, because it was slipping more to the side. Or maybe it was the huge amount of hairspray Oliver had used.

"Your hair died." Nate pointed to it, and I knew he was trying hard not to laugh.  
"Okay, that's it. I'm going to wash my hair."  
"But what about…" Nate trailed off, looking at Oliver out of the corner of his eye. I smirked, winking before walking upstairs, He could suffer.

Forty minutes later I hopped down the stairs, refreshed and hairspray-free. It had taken way longer then I'd planned, but it was worth it. At least now my hair wasn't a mess. Much. Nate's face brightened when I came downstairs, though if this was because of my presence or because he was scared of Oliver I didn't know. I hoped it was the first, but the latter was very believable.

"Oliver's been saying a lot." Nate said, and I froze. My cousin knew way more about my liking for Nate then I wanted him to.  
"Like what?" I asked, peering at Oliver who had a very annoying smirk on his face. Could seven year olds smirk? Was that normal?  
"I told him you wanted to marry him!" Oliver piped up.

I can no explain my horror when he said that, but I'll try. Imagine your favourite album was extremely rare to get, and there was only one left in the world, and you somehow got it, but then your mom burned it (don't ask me why your mom would burn it, but just imagine), and then times that feeling of horror by twenty. There you go.

"You what?" I yelped. My cheeks felt like they were burning from embarrassment, and both boys were laughing at my reaction.  
"Yeah, and that you loved him lots and lots!" Oliver continued.

He was about to say something else, but my reaction must have silenced him. There was a long pause, in which my emotions went from shock to horror to fright all in the space of a few seconds.

"Okay, Oliver, you're going to bed now." I finally said, not daring to look at Nate.  
"But Cait-"  
"Now." I said, thankful he already had his pyjamas on.

Oliver started moaning, but I ignored him as I took him upstairs. He was lucky to have made it this far anyway. It took about ten minutes, but Oliver finally gave in and let me tuck him in bed.  
"Have a good sleep." I mumbled, still furious that he'd told Nate everything.

Oliver didn't say anything as I walked out of the spare room. I paused at the stairs. I didn't want to go down and see Nate. Not when he knew how I felt about him. I knew he wouldn't like me – there was no way. If there was I would have told him how I'd felt a year ago when I first realised I liked him. I waited at the top of the stairs for a minute, not sure what to do. In some crazy way I thought maybe if I stayed there Nate would go away. I had no luck though, because I could still hear him downstairs.

I sighed, taking a deep breath before going downstairs. I kept my eyes glued to the ground, not wanting to look at Nate and see him. I didn't want to face rejection – one of my worst fears. I couldn't bare to lose him – both as a friend and a potential boyfriend. But in the back of my mind I knew I'd have to face this sometime, and it wasn't Oliver's fault.

I sat down next to him, still averting my gaze.  
"Caitlyn?"  
I ignored him.  
"Caitlyn I'm sorry for laughing at you."  
Silence on my part.  
"Caitlyn, please talk to me. I'm sorry."  
"I'm not ignoring you because of you laughing at my hair."  
"Oh."  
"I'm ignoring you because I've made an idiot out of myself."  
"You didn't."  
"I did, you know how I feel now and you don't like me back so you're going to reject me."  
"Reject you? Whoever said I was going to reject you?"

I looked up at that moment, and before I could ask him what he meant he leant forwards and softly placed his lips on mine. And suddenly the worst day of my life turned into the best, all in a matter of seconds.

I have to remember to babysit Oliver more often.


End file.
